Chapter 1
Out of forty-seven people in my class, not a single person talked to me.
Three years.
For 1,095 days, I sat in this classroom, as if I were invisible.
No, even worse than invisible.
An invisible person couldn't be noticed.
But me? Everyone saw me, and they all acted like I didn't exist.
Today, the principal stood before 2,300 students of the entire school and opened the letter I wrote.
As soon as he read the first sentence, my homeroom teacher's face went pale.
*****
My name was Isabella Carter. I was fifteen years old and in the ninth grade.
My seat was in the last row, tucked away in the corner.
There was a wall on my left, and an empty space on my right.
No one sat next to me.
To be precise, seven different students sat next to me.
None of them lasted more than a week.
The first one was Jessica Lane, who switched seats on the second day of school.
I asked her why.
She wouldn't look at me and whispered in a tiny voice, "Sarah said I can't sit with you."
Sarah was the class president.
I went to Ella Quinn, our homeroom teacher. "Ms. Quinn, nobody wants to sit with me."
Ella looked up at me. "Then maybe you should think about why they want to sit with someone else except you."
I froze.
"Is it something about yourself?" She lowered her head and went back to her paperwork. "Go back to the class."
I stood at the office door, unmoving.
She glanced up at me again. "Is there something else?"
"Ms. Quinn, I honestly don't know what I did wrong."
She let out a sigh, clearly annoyed with me.
"Isabella, you really need to look at yourself. There are 47 students in this class, do you honestly think everyone else is the problem, except you?"
I just stood there, completely speechless.
Ella's meaning was clear.
It was all my fault.
When I got back to the classroom, I saw a new line of words scrawled across my desk.
Written in thick black marker, big letters: [Unwanted mutt.]
I tried to wipe it off with my hand, but it wouldn't come off.
I used an eraser, yet it still wouldn't erase.
I rummaged through my pencil case until I finally found some white-out.
Slowly, I covered up the words, layer by layer.
Once the white-out dried, the patch was glaringly obvious on my desk, just like a scar.
I covered it with my textbook.
It was time for PE.
The teacher announced we'd be playing badminton in pairs.
"Two people per group. Find your own partner."
The classroom buzzed with excitement as everyone started reaching for each other's hands.
I stood there, and no one looked at me.
I walked over to the nearest girl. "Can we be partners?"
She took a step back. "I... I already have one."
But she was standing there all by herself.
I turned to another girl. "Sorry, I'm with Olivia."
But Olivia hadn't even come out of the classroom yet.
The PE teacher shot me a look. "Isabella, just go practice serving by yourself."
I stood alone in the far corner of the field, smacking the shuttlecock against the wall.
I caught it as it bounced back and sent it flying again.
Again, the shuttlecock bounced back.
Forty-six classmates were all playing together on the court, their laughter drifting over to me.
I smacked the shuttlecock even harder.
When I got home from school, my mom asked how my day was.
"It was fine." I forced a smile. "We played badminton in PE today."
"Who did you play with?"
"Just someone from class."
My mom smiled. "That's good."
I went back to my room and closed the door.
I had a notebook in my backpack.
On the very first page, I wrote a single line: [Day One.]
Starting today, I'm going to write down everything.
Every little thing.
Every single day.